MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG BRIEFS NEW YORKERS ON MID-AIR COLLISION OVER THE HUDSON RIVER

The following are Mayor Bloomberg’s remarks as delivered:

"I'm sad to report that about 12 o'clock this afternoon,
there was an accident which we do not believe was survivable, between an
airplane and a helicopter.

"The helicopter was a sightseeing helicopter, an A3 Star
50 made by Eurocopters and we think the airplane was a Piper Saratoga. The
airplane, we think, took off from Teterboro and had on board a pilot and two
passengers, one a child. We do not have the names or ages or where they come
from. And on the helicopter there were five Italian tourists and a pilot.

"We have at this point found two bodies. We're not sure
where one of them came from. The other one we're reasonably sure came from the
helicopter. We found some wreckage. We believe that it is the helicopter, but
the visibility is about two feet at a depth of 30 feet on the Jersey side of the
river, opposite roughly 14th Street where the wreckage is located.

"We've not found the second piece of wreckage. We're
assuming we have the helicopter, but I cannot for sure say that, in which case
we're looking for the airplane or vice-versa.

"With me today is our Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Kelvin Drayton, First Deputy
Commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management, Joe
Esposito, Chief of the Department of the NYPD, Ronny Spadafora, Deputy Assistant
Chief of the FDNY, John Peruggia, Chief of EMS, Scott
Stringer, our Borough President has joined us, and we also have representatives
from the National Transportation Safety Board, which will do the complete
investigation. We also have the Coast Guard on board and we have representatives
from the Port Authority, the Harbor Police, New York State Police. Over on the
Jersey side we've been working with the Jersey State Police and local police
forces there.

"What we can tell is that the plane left from Teterboro.
The helicopter had just taken off from West 30th Street. There were a number of
eyewitnesses who saw the crash. It would appear that the airplane ran into the
back side of the helicopter, but keep in mind, with all of these things, number
one until National Transportation Safety Board makes the determination, nothing
is a fact, and it can take them many weeks or even years to determine what goes
on. This probably won't be that big an investigation but they will do a complete
investigation before they announce their conclusions as to what happened, and
whether there are any steps that should be taken to improve safety and to
prevent similar tragedies such as this.

"The Police Department has sent some of their Community
Affairs Unit, and the Mayor's Office of Community Affairs both are with the
families of those who had taken off from 30th Street and are providing
counseling. I gather that they don't speak English so we have some Italian
speakers there. And we have professionals who sadly all too often have to learn
how to deal with tragedy, and help the families get through this difficult
period.

"I might point out that as you would expect, the Red
Cross is here, providing the kind of assistance that we need. Both the Fire
Department and the PD have boats and divers and everything's being done, but I
think it's fair to say this has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission. And
that probably was what we could have started out with the instant it happened.

"There is some evidence from eyewitnesses that one of
the wings of the airplane was severed or separated, probably severed by the
rotors of the helicopters, but we won't know, as I said, until the NTSB does
their investigation.

"We will, over the next hours, remove the bodies from
whether it's the helicopter or the airplane that we found, but at this point our
paramount focus is on making sure that our divers are safe. We don't want them
to make this tragedy any worse than it's already been, and we will continue
looking for the other aircraft, whichever one it is. There's not a lot else to
say. I'd be happy to take some questions, but nobody really knows any more than
what I've just said, and so if you want to ask about more, you're going to get
the same answer."